Novel triple friction pendulum-tuned liquid damper for the wind-induced vibration control of airport control towers

The airport control tower has been widely constructed for rapidly expanding transportation demand, whose anti-wind performance and high-efficiency upgrading technology are attracting increasing attention. To provide an efficient liquid-incorporated solution for wind-induced vibration control of airport control towers, this study proposes a novel triple friction pendulum tuned liquid damper (TFPTLD) and establishes a control demand-oriented design framework to facilitate the design of TFPTLDs. The configuration and theoretical analysis model of the TFPTLD are introduced, based on which the TFPTLD-equipped tower-like structure is established. Stochastic response analysis is performed to obtain the responses under stochastic wind and white noise. Correspondingly, extensive parametric research is conducted to explore the optimal parameters and clarify the vibration control demand-oriented design procedure and easy-to-use fitted design formula for the TFPTLD. Furthermore, a robustness investigation is undertaken to quantify the advantages and sensitivity of the TFPTLD to the stiffness and damping components. Finally, the TFPTLD is applied to an airport tower subject to experimental wind loads to illustrate the effectiveness of the devices and proposed design method. The results show that the proposed TFPTLD yields a compact solution to the high-level performance upgrading of the airport control tower subjected to wind excitations, which significantly reduces the structural acceleration and displacement responses. Following the proposed demand-oriented design method, the TFPTLD exhibits higher effectiveness, larger frequency bandwidth, and more robust wind-induced vibration control than conventional TLDs with the same liquid mass. Benefitting from the triple friction pendulum, a small installation space is required, and the tuning effect of the liquid mass is independent of the change in liquid mass, which can be comprehensively utilized for vibration control to maintain the daily function of liquid tanks.